NCAA Basketball 2017: Final Four cont.

[Fez]

58 minutes ago, Rhom said:

Updated all time wins list:

1. Kentucky > 2,263 – 699 > 76.4%
2. Kansas > 2,248 – 848 > 72.6%
3. North Carolina > 2,232 – 792 > 73.8%
4. Duke > 2,144 – 881 > 70.9%

Kansas has gained 5 wins on UK so far this season, cutting the UK lead from 20 to 15. 

Kentucky and North Carolina finish with identical records of 26 – 11, so UK remains 31 games ahead of North Carolina.

Kansas beating Duke kept the Blue Devils from winning 30 games, which would of tied UK for the most 30 win seasons at 15. It also kept Duke from going to it’s 17th Final Four, which would have tied UK and UCLA for second most Final Fours.

Why'd you have to leave poor Temple off the list at #5? Sure it's a big drop-off from Duke to them, but they serve as a useful object lesson that sometimes glory fades away.

[Rhom]

6 hours ago, Matrim Fox Cauthon said:

Statistics like these are absolutely fascinating. I know that some people hate the hegemony of Blue Bloods, but it's remarkable what the Blue Bloods have accomplished within college basketball athletics.

 

5 hours ago, Fez said:

Why'd you have to leave poor Temple off the list at #5? Sure it's a big drop-off from Duke to them, but they serve as a useful object lesson that sometimes glory fades away.

I think that's the amazing things about the top four.  There has never really been any significant "drop off" for any of them.  Sure, UNC had the Daugherty era and UK went through the end of Sutton/both years of Gillispie; but these teams have been at the top of the heap essentially since play began.  The story of the race to 1000 wins featured the same three teams as the race to 2000 wins.  I fully believe that the race to 3000 will be the same.

I'm fascinated to see what happens as Duke transitions from K.  They had a decent history before he got there, but the majority of their real success has come during his tenure.  Will they nail the transition?  Or will they follow the UCLA model?

[sperry]

I've always felt that college basketball and football history prior to integration should just be tossed out. Not only is it obviously repugnant that schools didn't allow blacks to enroll and/or compete, it's also just irrelevant. Knowing what we know about the dominance of black athletes in these sports, who cares what all-white teams in the 20s-50s did? Oklahoma won three football national championships pre-integration, and it's just not something I care about.

 

And note, I know that the programs listed above have also been the most successful post-integration, so not trying to denigrate those programs.

[dbunting]

Well Michigan didn't play great, over even a good game but they won anyway. I'm thinking giving Beliene a week to prep for Loyola will prove to be the difference. That and maybe they can remember how to hit a foul shot.

Also a shout out to Michigan hockey, also in the Frozen Four of the hockey tourney. Now if we could just get that football team going in the right direction.

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

8 hours ago, sperry said:

I've always felt that college basketball and football history prior to integration should just be tossed out. Not only is it obviously repugnant that schools didn't allow blacks to enroll and/or compete, it's also just irrelevant. Knowing what we know about the dominance of black athletes in these sports, who cares what all-white teams in the 20s-50s did? Oklahoma won three football national championships pre-integration, and it's just not something I care about.

And note, I know that the programs listed above have also been the most successful post-integration, so not trying to denigrate those programs.

Yes, but you also then run the risk of deleting the accomplshments of Jewish athletes during this time as well.

[Rhom]

18 hours ago, sperry said:

I've always felt that college basketball and football history prior to integration should just be tossed out. Not only is it obviously repugnant that schools didn't allow blacks to enroll and/or compete, it's also just irrelevant. Knowing what we know about the dominance of black athletes in these sports, who cares what all-white teams in the 20s-50s did? Oklahoma won three football national championships pre-integration, and it's just not something I care about.

 

And note, I know that the programs listed above have also been the most successful post-integration, so not trying to denigrate those programs.

Apparently there will be a piece that runs at the Final Four about a game between Loyola and Mississippi State.  The governor of Mississippi forbid the team from playing due to the fact Loyola was integrated and the team snuck out of the state somehow and went to play them.  

Also, in the days where only the conference champion went to the NCAA tournament, there were three years that Kentucky would have missed the NCAA tournament but Mississippi State was not allowed to play in the tournament with integrated teams so UK was sent as the conference representative.

While the history is often repugnant, there are absolutely fascinating stories that go with it as well.

[Rhom]

Maybe Duke's recruiting will drop off from here.  Have no idea what to expect from Capel at Pitt.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

36 minutes ago, Rhom said:

Apparently there will be a piece that runs at the Final Four about a game between Loyola and Mississippi State.  The governor of Mississippi forbid the team from playing due to the fact Loyola was integrated and the team snuck out of the state somehow and went to play them.  

Good ole Ross Barnett. May he rot in hell for all eternity. 

[RedEyedGhost]

49 minutes ago, Rhom said:

Maybe Duke's recruiting will drop off from here.  Have no idea what to expect from Capel at Pitt.

Was just coming here to post that.  I guess he wasn't as locked in as the coach in waiting as I thought.  Maybe Duke told him he needed to prove himself move and pushed him out the door?  Maybe he just got sick of waiting for K to retire?

I don't remember him being a bad coach, sperry will remember that better than I do, but I don't think this is going to work out as well for Pitt as they think it will.  I had initially typed that he is certainly a great recruiter, but thinking back on his time at OU, makes me less sure about that statement.  I think a baseball analogy is appropriate for his time at OU, he was a swing for the fences type of recruiter.  When he connected, he was great (Griffin), but when he was striking out it was pretty rough - he left the cupboard quite bare for Kruger.  At Duke though, it didn't all fall on him, and he was also recruiting guys that were extremely familiar with K because of USA basketball.  So, there it was like Mark McGwire in his fully juiced up glory taking a turn at AA ball and just destroying those pitchers.  I'm not sure this will work out as well for Pitt as they're hoping it will.  I think he'll be gone within five years, and not to become the new head coach at Duke.

 

On 3/26/2018 at 2:44 AM, Matrim Fox Cauthon said:

Congrats, REG.

Thanks!  I was very happy that we could force Grayson's final game in college.

 

On 3/25/2018 at 10:22 PM, Rhom said:

 

I was going to say the same thing!  You deserve to be giddy.

Heres what I said about Newman on a UK board earlier tonight:

 

I agree that if a player truly wants to get better (and win) they need to go to a top program.  They'll just have access to better coaching, strength training, and facilities.  If they don't care about that, and just want to go play their game and get buckets, they can certainly do that anywhere.  The second approach works out occasionally with a guy getting selected very high in the draft, but it does set back their  long term development.  

I'll agree that Newman looks a bit like Liggins, if you'll agree that Gilgeous-Alexander looks like Wiggins.

 

And another big shock:

 

[Rhom]

1 hour ago, RedEyedGhost said:

I'll agree that Newman looks a bit like Liggins, if you'll agree that Gilgeous-Alexander looks like Wiggins

I had to look up pictures of him at Kansas.  There might be some... but I really think Newman is a dead up ringer for Liggins.

I agree that the Capel timing is odd.  My assumption is that he needed some coaching wins under his belt, but it seems odd that he would go within the conference.

[RedEyedGhost]

The kid wrote this three months ago, which is why Billy P gets a mention.  I think he might be better at X's and O's than his dad.

[RedEyedGhost]

Oh, shit!  Ace in the hole.

 

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

4 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

Oh, shit!  Ace in the hole.

 

Ah, yes. Yet another UNC-KU connection. 

[RedEyedGhost]

7 hours ago, Matrim Fox Cauthon said:

Ah, yes. Yet another UNC-KU connection. 

Lot's of cross-pollination between our programs.

 

The NCAA gets a lot of shit, but every now and then they get something right.  Secret weapon #2:

Quote

No matter what happens this weekend, Kansas center Udoka Azubuike will have a Final Four to remember.

That's because his mother, Florence, is scheduled to travel from Nigeria to see her son for the first time since he left to play basketball in the United States in ninth grade. The Nigerian government approved her visa to travel on Thursday, allowing her to fly to San Antonio.

...

"She knew that based on the situation things back home weren't conducive for me and it was hard back then because we had a lot of bad stuff happening and it wasn't good for me," Azubuike said. "When the opportunity came for me to travel to the U.S. to play basketball and to go to school, I didn't think twice about it. My mom was pretty excited about it, too."

When asked how he would try to contain his emotions when he sees his mom for the first time, Azubuike said, "It's going to be nice. I can't think about it right now."

 

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

In the world of women's collegiate basketball, Notre Dame did the nigh impossible and knocked out the (previously) undefeated UConn 91-89. 

[Rhom]

1 hour ago, Matrim Fox Cauthon said:

In the world of women's collegiate basketball, Notre Dame did the nigh impossible and knocked out the (previously) undefeated UConn 91-89. 

Two great games last night.  UofL fans are upset because they beat Notre Dame twice this year.

[KingintheNorth4]

I picked Villanova to win it all and I'm sticking to it. 

I'm split on who to pick for Loyala vs Michigan.

[Ramsay B.]

12 hours ago, Matrim Fox Cauthon said:

In the world of women's collegiate basketball, Notre Dame did the nigh impossible and knocked out the (previously) undefeated UConn 91-89. 

My dad is devastated about it. I turned it on for the 4th quarter and OT and it was a great ending. ND choked away two 5 point leads with under 25 seconds at the end of regulation and OT, but #24 on ND is cold-blooded. 

[KingintheNorth4]

Wagner doing it all for Michigan.

[RedEyedGhost]

I haven't been nervous all week.  This straight up shitty shooting in the first game has me freaking though.  Fucking goddamn domes.  Loyola's doing really well with their mid-range game.  Michigan doesn't seem to have any offense other than Wagner - makes me hope that Dok is healthy and came to party.